Estate office formally orders DPI to inspect 27 schools

The UT estate office has asked the director of public instructions to form teams to inspect the 27 schools found violating the Right to Education Act criteria related to the economically weaker section.

The UT estate office has asked the director of public instructions to form teams to inspect the 27 schools found violating the Right to Education Act criteria related to the economically weaker section.

Sources said the estate office has passed the interim orders on the show-cause notices to the schools, which had been asked to submit details of admissions to students under the economically weaker section (EWS), along with supporting documents.

The order, which sources said was issued last week, has asked the committees formed by the director of public instructions (DPI) (schools) to inspect the schools under the supervision of their respective SDMs and check records and conduct a physical verification as well.

The committees have been asked to look into the “total enrolment in the EWS category, along with proof of each child admitted, from the date of allotment to the present date, keeping in view the RTE Act and DPI guidelines.

The schools have been asked to provide information through affidavits and, in case of the minority institutions, present the essential certificates as well.

Sources said the order has also asked the committees to look into the total number of seats in schools and reason how the number had been recorded, and also check the documental proof. The committees will also scour records about the total current enrolment in schools, along with the relevant tuition fee.

As earlier reported by HT, the decisions, reflected in the order, were taken during the last hearing of the EWS case on October 15. The DPI (schools), however, said he was yet to receive any such order from the estate office.

Some of the schools under scanner for the RTE violations were issued notices under rule 20 of the Chandigarh Lease Hold of Sites and Building Rule, 1973, which pertains to the violation of the ‘allotment of land to educational institutions on lease hold basis in Chandigarh scheme, 1996 (further amended in 2001)’.